"Pruning" the Forum Members

If you follow the Statistics bar at the bottom of the main screen, you've noticed that the number of members went down dramatically over the last few days -- from about 24,000 to around 8,000. The forum software includes a "pruning" function which, after some fiddling around, I've figured out how to use. Basically, it allows us to delete inactive members according to specified criteria. The rule I followed was to delete any members who 1) have not logged on to the forum in the last 180 days, and 2) have never posted. Spammers whose posts are deleted don't count as having posted under this system, so the pruning process deletes them after 180 days as well. Reducing the number of members will make the forum more manageable in a number of ways, and should also make it somewhat speedier.

I've thought about the idea of making the cutoff at 90 days instead of 180. This would reduce the membership by about half (to around 4,000). It would still accomodate "lurkers," since the clock restarts each time they log on regardless of whether or not they post. Also, a member who is deleted can easily rejoin. Again, none of this affects members who have ever posted.